. >> according to a new quinnipiac poll, less than a month after sandy hit new jersey, voters there have given him a 72% approval rating. the highest recorded by quinnipiac for a new jersey governor. ever. 95% of new jersey voters gave christie an excellent or good rating for his response to hurricane sandy. and despite criticism from some national republican leaders, 84% approved of christie's praise of president obama's response to the storm, including 69% of republicans. newark's democratic mayor, cory booker, told the new jersey star ledger today, quote, i'm giving a run consideration. critical to my decision is not the difficulties of the politics or positioning in polls, but choosing the position from which i can make the best contributions to the city and state i love. meanwhile, a new rutgers eagleton poll finds governor christie leading mayor booker in a hypothetical race, 53 to 34%. joining me now, david corn and msnbc political analyst, jonathan allen, senior washington correspondent for politico. david corn, let's talk about cory booker for a moment, who i think was poised to